Lacrimosa
by ninjamonkey
Summary: The Fire Princess was overwhelmed by what she saw. The expression that grasped Katara’s face was dead cold. It reminded her, in an ironic twist of fate, of her own face. The fight would rage on.


Lacrimosa

By: Ninjamonkey 

Rating: T for violence

Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA, or Mozart's Requiem. The random lyrics at the beginning and end come from the section of the Requiem called Lacrimosa.

AN: I've actually never written anything like this before. I've written humor, romance, and even some action. But not something like this. With that said…. here goes nothing…

_Lacrimosa dies illa_

_Qua resurget ex favilla_

_Judicandus homo reus._

Azula rose from her crouched position, cool malevolence leaking from every aspect of her face. With her ascent came the blade of her long knife, smoothly escaping its victim's chest.

Sokka fell to the ground, noiseless amongst the malicious rain that battered the wide balcony. His cerulean eyes closed for the final time, concluding the vivacious life of a boy had become a hero of war. Azula did not even glance down, spitefully or piteously. Her knife had terminated many a hero.

Instead, she kept her eyes focused forward, squinting to see through the steadfast curtains the black sky produced so readily. She held her bloodied knife close, all too aware of the restrictive force the rain had upon her bending. The fires would be quenched; the lightning would be set out of control.

Before her, barely visible in the furious storm, stood the waterbending girl. Azula watched her carefully. She had seen that facial expression so many times before: contorted with agony and rage at the death of a loved one. The Fire Princess was a murderer. She did not repent for it.

"Do you want to kill me, peasant?" Azula implored, ridiculing the girl thoroughly for having just murdered her brother. Like tears mourning for the lives lost to the night's battle, the rain poured on.

The waterbender raked her hands from the cool stone of the balcony. Terrible, cacophonous sounds emanated from the very near throne room of the Fire Palace. The battle between the Fire Lord and the Avatar was escalating. They did not hinder the girl from rising to her feet fearlessly.

"I don't think you can…" Azula taunted again, consciously blocking the entrance to the Palace. Zuko and the blind girl may have made it in, but neither would be of use if the Avatar needed healing. Keeping the waterbender out would prove an easy task.

Undaunted by the torment on the girl's face, Azula raised her knife, letting the rain wash the crimson tint right off. She could see the girl's azure eyes following the trail of her brother's scarlet life fleeing from the blade to the balcony floor.

"There now, it's all clean for some more killing." Azula smiled. Hers was a smile like no other, one that could turn the very bravest warrior's heart to fear. It was as if a manifestation of corruption had decided to grace her cruel face.

But the girl wasn't intimidated.

Azula's eyes widened.

Apparently, there would be a fight.

A strand of swirling water formed out of the accursed rain, snapping out at her chest. The Fire Princess swiveled quickly on her heel, letting the water whip bite at the wall behind her. Azula quickly dodged another arm of water, rolling gracefully towards her opponent.

She sprang to her feet, mere feet from the waterbender. The normally calm and strong azure eyes of the girl were now clouded with agonized anger. Azula's lips curled as she struck out with her knife. The girl, Katara, just barely blocked it with an ice blade. The ice quickly weakened, though, under the beating torrents of rain.

"Can't use any ice, can we? I'm not the only one limited." Azula commented, twisting away from a ball of water. She quickly formulated a plan, as Katara was at a clear advantage. The waterbender threw out another whip, but missed due to her desperation.

Azula quickly ran up the wall of the palace, right over where Katara's whip snapped, and flipped over the other girl. She let her knife go, knowing it was headed straight for the pliant flesh of the distraught girl below.

But she heard the unwelcome clatter.

As Azula landed in a crouch, she turned around. What met her face did not bring rivulets of fear, but utter surprise. Never in her fifteen years had she seen such a monstrosity of bending.

Her knife had narrowly missed Katara. The waterbender had instead, bent the rain into a horrible mass. Before Azula, a spinning heap of water levitated in the air, the end forming into a deadly pointed vortex. The tip needled straight at Azula's neck.

The Fire Princess tilted her head back, still half crouched. She squinted in the downpour at the liquid vortex before her, and then at the girl behind it. The waterbender moved her arms wildly, spinning them in a vaguely hypnotic motion. Her teeth were gritted fiercely, concentrating on holding the mass, preparing to thrust it forward at her brother's murderer.

Azula, however, saw a window of opportunity.

With speed similar to her favored element, she thrust her fist into the vortex, burning with lightning. The electricity ran though the watery mass, expanding and snapping back at Katara. The girl screamed, dropped the deadly water formation, and fell to her knees in pain. Azula snapped her hand back, and stared briefly at the now cut and burnt fist.

The ferocious pain was ignored.

"I told you that you couldn't kill me. Know thine enemy. I know you can't kill. Just like I stabbed you brother from behind, I will kill you, peasant." Azula rose to her feet, drawing a smaller knife. She strode to the huddled form of the other girl, a harrowing smirk on her face. Her father would be proud, she thought. He would praise her, after killing the Avatar, for destroying the Avatar's closest companions.

Azula's smile fell as she looked down at the girl.

With any luck, it would be her last kill.

She drew back her blade, ready to plunge it into Katara's back.

But then the rain stopped suddenly.

Azula glanced up.

All around the balcony, the rain fell. But it fell as if a globe encased the area, not a single droplet touching the marble floor. She frowned, confused at the phenomenon.

Suddenly, she understood, as ice grasped at her legs, pulling her back a few feet from the waterbender. Azula watched in shock as the waterbender rose to her feet. All waterbending required movement of the arms. Yet, Katara wasn't moving hers at all.

The Fire Princess was overwhelmed by what she saw. The expression that grasped Katara's face was dead cold. It reminded her, in an ironic twist of fate, of her own face.

"Know thine enemy, Azula?" Her voice was brutal and ferocious. "Did you know that the most major element in you body is water?"

For the first time in a long time, fear grasped Azula's body. She understood Katara's meaning perfectly.

Her amber eyes drifted, dreading, to the girl's right hand. It was slowly curling, fingers twisting cruelly.

And then, pain like no other coursed through Azula's body. She knew she would have screamed if sound could have left her throat. But she was dying.

With a strangled noise, she fell. Her last thought was one of awe at the brutal power. The waterbender let go, her hand dropping.

The rain fell once more.

Katara collapsed to her knees, tears finally running freely.

The loss of innocence was vicious, but not so much as the realization that she had become no better than the vile Princess herself.

Katara sobbed lightly.

Her hands felt dirty.

The rain poured harder, enraged, barely permeating the ringing of the battle within.

Tearful that day,

on which will rise from ashes

guilty man for judgement.

(AN: Wow, that was weird…..No, I don't really think this would ever happen. It was a weird idea that struck me one day. A little glimpse of the darker side of ATLA, I guess you could say. Please review!)


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